One is a variation on your point: Democrats value the appearance of 'dignity', as if that were a Constitutional ideal. Leaks from the 1/6 Committee revealed the reluctance of some Democratic representatives to criminally refer Trump to DOJ because they felt it was 'undignified'. Pathetic.
The other factor is fear...fear of being subpoenaed, fear of losing reelection, fear of being the target of right-wing online mobs or offline violence.
What good does it do to have Durbin chair the Judiciary Committee when he refuses to demand Feinstein's resignation? Durbin is slow-walking the egregious SCOTUS corruption investigations, and he refuses to eliminate blue slips.
There is no answer except conflict avoidance...everyday people will suffer for decades so that Durbin and other weak Senate Democrats avoid discomfort. It's madness.
I tell GenZers they're voting not for Democrats, but against facisms.
I simply don’t understand the mainstream media in the USA as it constantly ignores compelling, credible, newsworthy IMPORTANT stories that SHOULD BE TOLD!
As Keith Olberman repeatedly argues on today's edition of his podcast - Democrats need to start throwing the first punch. Think about it. What happened when Biden threw the first punch in the SOTU over Social Security and Medicare? What is happening between Ron Wyden and Harlan Crowe? And then think about milquetoast Dick Durbin and John Roberts because he won't deal with DiFi? And imagine what McCarthy will do if Biden simply comes back from Asia and announces after one more useless meeting with the Speaker in Name Only that he is invoking the plain language of the 14th Amendment? Do we really think the MAGAs are going to run to a judge who would blow up the global economy? Even their pet Trump stooges in Amarillo and Florida aren't that stupid.
I don’t know about your assessment. I think there is room for media and PAC’s to ‘sling the mud’.... that’s what we have come to expect from them. A fact is a fact for sure and pedophilia is a crime and mental illness that affects humans. Not just R’s. And should it be exposed, absolutely. Press, media, PACS, pundits, you as well. So thanks for making me aware of his disgusting record. Filed away.
But I agree with Michelle. Stay high candidates and campaigns. Look at Donna DEEGAN’s win in Jacksonville and how she ran her campaign. In the face of ugly ads, she addressed it in a video post from a figurative mountain top!!! I say too many people, are home watching ‘reality shows’ or social media and feel they want more entertainment out of politics.
When governing is done well with openness, transparency, accountability it is boring, because no one has reason to complain.
NoLie BTC link below on Donna’s win in DeSantis backyard. Woke isn’t dead their yet, obviously! Maybe write about how she pulled this off with mod R’s indies and young voters. This is STRONG indication of how maybe the country has gone low enough.
"This notion leads Democrats to the idea that they must pursue the higher ground. To quote First Lady Michelle Obama, “When they go low, we go high.”"
I refer to this as a variant of liberal pathology, the mistaken notion that by 'always being our better selves', we win the moral argument, even if our society is burned to the ground. Since I find the prospect of fascists burning our society to the ground problematic, the self-congratulatory pat on the back for 'taking the high ground', or 'appealing to other people's better nature' is not merely worthless, it is actively dangerous. It gets people killed.
Also, as a political strategy, it's something that's been tried for countless generations, everywhere and... it has always failed. Always.
If someone who considers themselves to be 'on the left' decries my lack of decorum towards the the very people trying to burn our society to the ground, the people actively pursuing genocide-- right now-- then that person 'on the left' is not actually a reliable ally. Because their priorities are whacked.
The GOP, the American fascist regime, is the haven of predators, sociopaths and psychopaths. It just is.
Every rank and file GOP voter, every GOP elected official, everywhere, are the source of power for the regime, and they are all complicit in every atrocity. They are the fascist crowd, and each bears full responsibility. Every. Last. One.
Omg, yes. I'm so sick of Democrats playing nice. We tried the high road. Many times. It may have been fine in the past, but it doesn't work in a contest against lying, mud-slinging fascist wannabes who will do ANY goddamned thing to win.
We don't have to lie like the Republicans do. There is plenty of true ammo to use, as you point out so well.
The key is to be strategic in our messaging, first off, both in the long and short term. We have to be pointed, dogged, and completely unafraid to tell the truth.
We also must hammer away at a few key points over and over and over again, because repetition wins in the propaganda war. In fact, Democrats have to think more like propagandists and sales people when they plan their messaging. Again, not using lies, but using the kind of truth that fires up people's emotions.
The vast majority of people will forget policy talk. To nerd out here: Biologically, we are built to act primarily on our emotions, and not on what we process in our frontal cortex.
But I digress...and my frontal cortex is tired now.
My point is that I totally agree, Mr. Willis. We have to fight using the brutal, ugly truth. Thank you so much for your reporting. I learn a lot from you.
I always say that GOP stands for Greedy Old Perverts because so many of them get caught abusing minors. It happens not just with politicians but among the religious leaders who support them. It's a party of pedophiles and I have never understood why the Democrats don't fight back when they yell "groomers" at them. Durbin, Schumer and many others don't seem to understand the urgency of our current situation. There are over 100 Seditionists still voting on legislation in Congress. Republicans now consider democracy an inconvenient obstacle to their attainment of power that they don't intend to relinquish again. Fascists don't care about rules or collegiality. It's time to take the gloves off. We need fighters. Put Elizabeth Warren at the head of the Senate and replace Durbin and Feinstein. Get rid of anybody else who is afraid to fight as hard as they can for democracy now because the longer they wait, the harder it will become.
“...the kind of investment in bare-knuckle politics that is so desperately needed in the current atmosphere, but which the party fails to engage in time and time again...”
Hmm...a presidential candidate identified with reason and restraint gets almost 85,000,000 people to vote for him and against political savagery. His party upends midterm expectations and would have held the House if not for New York judges installed by Andrew Cuomo--a willing practitioner of bare-knuckle politics.
Democratic Party elected officials reflect their constituency, which by-and-large rejects bare-knuckle politics. Asking people to be something they are not rarely works.
See, I'm a Democrat for all the high-thinking reasons, but the main reason I’m a Democrat is because I look at Republicans and I just don’t %^+€ing like them. You can’t build an entire party around people like me, but I submit we lose nothing by letting our revulsion show.
You make a very good point here. It is important to emphasize the kind of people modern Republicans accept as their leaders, serial pedophiles, a guy with five kids who simply cannot keep it in his pants, and the failson who wrecked the economy, failed to bring the guy responsible for 911 to justice (after promising to do so), lied us into a war. While his father, 2000 primary opponent, and 2004 gen election opponent fought in their wars he hid in the national guard. And then compare these miserable specimens to kind of men Republicans used to choose as leaders like Eisenhower or Reagan.
And then there is the sort of policy vision they have, as illustrated by Speaker McCarthy whose plan to to crash the markets if he doesn't get his way like some spoiled rich kid. Biden needs to LET THE DEFAULT HAPPEN. The immediate impact will be on financial markets. Trump was always focused on the stock market and having McCarthy as the cause of crash is very good politically for Democrats. Why? Because market upsets are quick-acting while economic effects are slow. Biden can call the Fed chief in and make him see that he cannot try to address the market decline, he needs to hold off so Biden will use the coin to prevent any damage to the real economy (and in doing so demonstrate that HE did not want to crash the markets the other guy did). He simply needs to spook the markets sufficiently to get the market mind to turn against the Republicans.
If Biden can do this, then the Republicans are fucked. It will become clear that not only does the Republican leadership inhabit the sewer morally, but they cannot be trusted with a burnt match financially. What they CAN be trusted to do is deprive women of gynecological health care, demonize LBTG people, and valorize despots like Putin, Erdogan, and Orban.
While l agree that Dems can a must “fight back”, l would encourage viewers to follow many of the House Democrats and their Committees and SubCommittees. They are “fighting back” and winning not only the arguments with cold, hard facts, but also telling the GOP Dems will not be lectured to by outright hypocrites, liars, etc. Great examples are Minority Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Rep. Stacey Plaskett, Rep. Daniel Goldman, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Jim McGovern, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and so many more. The problem is a much of MSM media amplifies the GOP from politicians to voters; and does its punditry, analysis, and interviews, etc. from a GOP narrative while punishing Dems who do fight back with bad headlines or no headlines at all. Most of MSM is owned by uber wealthy people who vote GOP because they want to continue to extract wealth with the cheapest labor possible and then receive tax cuts on top of that. And if caught up in crimes the GOP will not only make excuses, but actively work to look the other way/try to get them off the Justice hook.
Senate Dems are also doing a better job (except my Senator Durbin and also Den. Feinstein🤦🏽♀️) but need to learn from the House.
Last, and most importantly is our fellow citizens. As angry as we can and should be at our politicians. We have way too many voters who will NOT vote so awful people like Hastert never darken our Capitol doors. Others don’t care if the Hasterts of the world are there because screw the country if l can stick it to “libs”. Additionally, too many voters want Hollywood and/or gladiator entertainment, glad handing on the campaign trail, find policy boring, don’t know and won’t learn history; or worse just simply don’t care. Practically every year 100 million people don’t vote and everyone isn’t poor, struggling, etc. Too many also won’t demand better from the media because Reality TV, TMZ stories have replaced substantive information. It’s a Republic if we can keep it.
Well, I think there are 2 factors at play.
One is a variation on your point: Democrats value the appearance of 'dignity', as if that were a Constitutional ideal. Leaks from the 1/6 Committee revealed the reluctance of some Democratic representatives to criminally refer Trump to DOJ because they felt it was 'undignified'. Pathetic.
The other factor is fear...fear of being subpoenaed, fear of losing reelection, fear of being the target of right-wing online mobs or offline violence.
What good does it do to have Durbin chair the Judiciary Committee when he refuses to demand Feinstein's resignation? Durbin is slow-walking the egregious SCOTUS corruption investigations, and he refuses to eliminate blue slips.
There is no answer except conflict avoidance...everyday people will suffer for decades so that Durbin and other weak Senate Democrats avoid discomfort. It's madness.
I tell GenZers they're voting not for Democrats, but against facisms.
I simply don’t understand the mainstream media in the USA as it constantly ignores compelling, credible, newsworthy IMPORTANT stories that SHOULD BE TOLD!
As Keith Olberman repeatedly argues on today's edition of his podcast - Democrats need to start throwing the first punch. Think about it. What happened when Biden threw the first punch in the SOTU over Social Security and Medicare? What is happening between Ron Wyden and Harlan Crowe? And then think about milquetoast Dick Durbin and John Roberts because he won't deal with DiFi? And imagine what McCarthy will do if Biden simply comes back from Asia and announces after one more useless meeting with the Speaker in Name Only that he is invoking the plain language of the 14th Amendment? Do we really think the MAGAs are going to run to a judge who would blow up the global economy? Even their pet Trump stooges in Amarillo and Florida aren't that stupid.
I don’t know about your assessment. I think there is room for media and PAC’s to ‘sling the mud’.... that’s what we have come to expect from them. A fact is a fact for sure and pedophilia is a crime and mental illness that affects humans. Not just R’s. And should it be exposed, absolutely. Press, media, PACS, pundits, you as well. So thanks for making me aware of his disgusting record. Filed away.
But I agree with Michelle. Stay high candidates and campaigns. Look at Donna DEEGAN’s win in Jacksonville and how she ran her campaign. In the face of ugly ads, she addressed it in a video post from a figurative mountain top!!! I say too many people, are home watching ‘reality shows’ or social media and feel they want more entertainment out of politics.
When governing is done well with openness, transparency, accountability it is boring, because no one has reason to complain.
NoLie BTC link below on Donna’s win in DeSantis backyard. Woke isn’t dead their yet, obviously! Maybe write about how she pulled this off with mod R’s indies and young voters. This is STRONG indication of how maybe the country has gone low enough.
Appreciate you work, thanks
https://youtu.be/ytSN34dreZ4
"This notion leads Democrats to the idea that they must pursue the higher ground. To quote First Lady Michelle Obama, “When they go low, we go high.”"
I refer to this as a variant of liberal pathology, the mistaken notion that by 'always being our better selves', we win the moral argument, even if our society is burned to the ground. Since I find the prospect of fascists burning our society to the ground problematic, the self-congratulatory pat on the back for 'taking the high ground', or 'appealing to other people's better nature' is not merely worthless, it is actively dangerous. It gets people killed.
Also, as a political strategy, it's something that's been tried for countless generations, everywhere and... it has always failed. Always.
If someone who considers themselves to be 'on the left' decries my lack of decorum towards the the very people trying to burn our society to the ground, the people actively pursuing genocide-- right now-- then that person 'on the left' is not actually a reliable ally. Because their priorities are whacked.
The GOP, the American fascist regime, is the haven of predators, sociopaths and psychopaths. It just is.
Every rank and file GOP voter, every GOP elected official, everywhere, are the source of power for the regime, and they are all complicit in every atrocity. They are the fascist crowd, and each bears full responsibility. Every. Last. One.
Omg, yes. I'm so sick of Democrats playing nice. We tried the high road. Many times. It may have been fine in the past, but it doesn't work in a contest against lying, mud-slinging fascist wannabes who will do ANY goddamned thing to win.
We don't have to lie like the Republicans do. There is plenty of true ammo to use, as you point out so well.
The key is to be strategic in our messaging, first off, both in the long and short term. We have to be pointed, dogged, and completely unafraid to tell the truth.
We also must hammer away at a few key points over and over and over again, because repetition wins in the propaganda war. In fact, Democrats have to think more like propagandists and sales people when they plan their messaging. Again, not using lies, but using the kind of truth that fires up people's emotions.
The vast majority of people will forget policy talk. To nerd out here: Biologically, we are built to act primarily on our emotions, and not on what we process in our frontal cortex.
But I digress...and my frontal cortex is tired now.
My point is that I totally agree, Mr. Willis. We have to fight using the brutal, ugly truth. Thank you so much for your reporting. I learn a lot from you.
And damn, that's a cute dog.
I always say that GOP stands for Greedy Old Perverts because so many of them get caught abusing minors. It happens not just with politicians but among the religious leaders who support them. It's a party of pedophiles and I have never understood why the Democrats don't fight back when they yell "groomers" at them. Durbin, Schumer and many others don't seem to understand the urgency of our current situation. There are over 100 Seditionists still voting on legislation in Congress. Republicans now consider democracy an inconvenient obstacle to their attainment of power that they don't intend to relinquish again. Fascists don't care about rules or collegiality. It's time to take the gloves off. We need fighters. Put Elizabeth Warren at the head of the Senate and replace Durbin and Feinstein. Get rid of anybody else who is afraid to fight as hard as they can for democracy now because the longer they wait, the harder it will become.
Kal is looking might mature. Gentle soul
“...the kind of investment in bare-knuckle politics that is so desperately needed in the current atmosphere, but which the party fails to engage in time and time again...”
Hmm...a presidential candidate identified with reason and restraint gets almost 85,000,000 people to vote for him and against political savagery. His party upends midterm expectations and would have held the House if not for New York judges installed by Andrew Cuomo--a willing practitioner of bare-knuckle politics.
Democratic Party elected officials reflect their constituency, which by-and-large rejects bare-knuckle politics. Asking people to be something they are not rarely works.
See, I'm a Democrat for all the high-thinking reasons, but the main reason I’m a Democrat is because I look at Republicans and I just don’t %^+€ing like them. You can’t build an entire party around people like me, but I submit we lose nothing by letting our revulsion show.
You make a very good point here. It is important to emphasize the kind of people modern Republicans accept as their leaders, serial pedophiles, a guy with five kids who simply cannot keep it in his pants, and the failson who wrecked the economy, failed to bring the guy responsible for 911 to justice (after promising to do so), lied us into a war. While his father, 2000 primary opponent, and 2004 gen election opponent fought in their wars he hid in the national guard. And then compare these miserable specimens to kind of men Republicans used to choose as leaders like Eisenhower or Reagan.
And then there is the sort of policy vision they have, as illustrated by Speaker McCarthy whose plan to to crash the markets if he doesn't get his way like some spoiled rich kid. Biden needs to LET THE DEFAULT HAPPEN. The immediate impact will be on financial markets. Trump was always focused on the stock market and having McCarthy as the cause of crash is very good politically for Democrats. Why? Because market upsets are quick-acting while economic effects are slow. Biden can call the Fed chief in and make him see that he cannot try to address the market decline, he needs to hold off so Biden will use the coin to prevent any damage to the real economy (and in doing so demonstrate that HE did not want to crash the markets the other guy did). He simply needs to spook the markets sufficiently to get the market mind to turn against the Republicans.
If Biden can do this, then the Republicans are fucked. It will become clear that not only does the Republican leadership inhabit the sewer morally, but they cannot be trusted with a burnt match financially. What they CAN be trusted to do is deprive women of gynecological health care, demonize LBTG people, and valorize despots like Putin, Erdogan, and Orban.
“ woo woo”
“ Woo Woo”
“ Woo Woo”
While l agree that Dems can a must “fight back”, l would encourage viewers to follow many of the House Democrats and their Committees and SubCommittees. They are “fighting back” and winning not only the arguments with cold, hard facts, but also telling the GOP Dems will not be lectured to by outright hypocrites, liars, etc. Great examples are Minority Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Rep. Stacey Plaskett, Rep. Daniel Goldman, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Jim McGovern, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and so many more. The problem is a much of MSM media amplifies the GOP from politicians to voters; and does its punditry, analysis, and interviews, etc. from a GOP narrative while punishing Dems who do fight back with bad headlines or no headlines at all. Most of MSM is owned by uber wealthy people who vote GOP because they want to continue to extract wealth with the cheapest labor possible and then receive tax cuts on top of that. And if caught up in crimes the GOP will not only make excuses, but actively work to look the other way/try to get them off the Justice hook.
Senate Dems are also doing a better job (except my Senator Durbin and also Den. Feinstein🤦🏽♀️) but need to learn from the House.
Last, and most importantly is our fellow citizens. As angry as we can and should be at our politicians. We have way too many voters who will NOT vote so awful people like Hastert never darken our Capitol doors. Others don’t care if the Hasterts of the world are there because screw the country if l can stick it to “libs”. Additionally, too many voters want Hollywood and/or gladiator entertainment, glad handing on the campaign trail, find policy boring, don’t know and won’t learn history; or worse just simply don’t care. Practically every year 100 million people don’t vote and everyone isn’t poor, struggling, etc. Too many also won’t demand better from the media because Reality TV, TMZ stories have replaced substantive information. It’s a Republic if we can keep it.
Paraphrasing TFG, “where is our Roy Cohen?”